n exists. Does not the man at times conceal
himself to the God, by self-deception, self-excuse, by lying to his
higher nature? In such case is not the God also hidden, in fact
compelled to assume a mask? Thus the poet brings before us the
wonderful interplay between the human and divine, till they fully
recognize each other.

At once Pallas changes, she assumes a new form, the outward plastic
shape corresponding to her Godhood in the Greek conception, that of "a
woman beautiful and stately." Nor must we forget that Ulysses has also
changed, the two transformations run parallel, in the spirit of the man
and in the form of the Goddess. This unity of character also is stated
by Pallas; "both of us are skilled in wiles; thou art the best of
mortals in counsel and in words; I am famed among the Gods for wisdom
and cunning." Hence her argument runs, let us throw off disguise to
each other, for we have a great work before us.

It is also to be noted by the reader that each, the man and the
Goddess, ascribes to the other the credit of skill and forethought,
specially the credit of coming to Ithaca in disguise to discover the
true situation. Says Pallas: "Another man would have rushed to see wife
and children in his house, but thou wilt first test thy wife." Here the
Goddess gives the thought to the man. Says Ulysses: "Surely I would
have perished in my own palace, like Agamemnon, if thou, O Goddess,
hadst not told me everything aright." Here the man gives the thought to
the Goddess. This is not a contradiction, both are correct, and the
insight is to see that both are one, and saying the same thing at
bottom. The deity must be in the man, as well as in the world; and the
man must hear the deity speaking the truth of the world ere he attain
unto wisdom.

Even the mist which hung over the landscape at first, has now
completely vanished; Ulysses recognizes all the local details--the
haven, the olive-tree, the grot of the Nymphs, and the mountain; all
the Ithacan objects of Nature come back fully. But chiefly he
recognizes the Goddess, whereupon both can pass to the great matter in
hand--the deed.

3. This deed has been often mentioned before--the purification of
Ithaca, chiefly by the slaughter of the Suitors, "the shameless set,
who usurp thy house and woo thy wife." Sitting on the roots of the
sacred olive, the two, the man and the deity, plan destruction to the
guilty. Verily those double elements, the human and the divine